That's very good advice from mike (brownstudy). Another way the same technique can be useful is with insomnia. If you tend to lie in bed worrying about things, you can have a notebook and pencil beside your bed and just jot down a reminder to yourself to take it further the next day. That way you have parked it safely and can go to sleep again.

Mark

I understand app103's struggles and I have been there myself. Something I have tried to stress in my time management books is that using time management systems to a) force your way through a massive work load, or b) force yourself to do stuff you don't really want to do, is not a good idea. That's why I start both "Get Everything Done and Still Have Time to Play" and "Do It Tomorrow" with chapters on cutting one's commitments and focusing on what is really important in your life and work.

A useful way of re-framing the question is to stop thinking about "procrastination" and to start thinking instead in terms of your to do list acting as a filter. I've always recommended that if you use a to do list (I'm not very fond of them myself) that you don't write it out again each day but keep the pages until they are complete. That way you can see clearly which items you have done and which you haven't. I've been doing this recently myself because I was interested in what did and did not get filtered out. So the first sheet on my list originally had 28 items on it. Now it has 4 left uncompleted. The other 24 have been crossed out.

Doing it this way allows me to compare which items have been actioned and which haven't. What are the differences? What are the characteristics of the ones that haven't been actioned? What I found was that generally speaking the reasons for things remaining unactioned were valid ones. For instance, "Mow Lawn" hadn't been actioned because it has been raining here every spare moment I've had in which I could have done the chore. Another two hadn't been actioned because the projects they were part of were a long way in the future, and there had been more pressing things. And the remaining one related to a project about which I felt no enthusiasm at all. So why am I doing it? A good question!

Being able to compare things directly in this way makes you more aware of the contents of your "filter". You can identify the unconscious criteria which you are applying so that some things get done quickly and others sink to the bottom and never get done. This is all useful knowledge.

Mark Forster

In reply to Nudone

Yes, a lot of people have a problem reconciling "How to Make Your Dreams Come True" with the two other books. All I will say is "Does it really matter?" If the books were each by a different author you wouldn't have a need to find an inner consistency, you'd just take what was useful to you and move on. I suggest you do the same here!